1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains to a releasable sabot for a subcaliber projectile including a sabot jacket, a sabot rear portion and a driving band, the sabot having at least partial longitudinal slots and thereby having cooperative reference fracture locations.
2. Discussion of the Background of the Invention and Material Information
Subcaliber projectiles, also denominated as sabot projectiles, are most often fired from automatic weapons having helically grooved barrels wherein the required releasable sabots are, for example, take the form known from European Patent Publication EP-A-0 288 721.
This known sabot is comprised of a sabot rear portion, preferably of light metal construction, in which the projectile body or penetrator is anchored, and of a sabot jacket, preferably of plastic material, which surrounds the projectile body. Both of these portions include at least partial longitudinal slots together with their cooperating reference fracture locations, in order to achieve, during the separation of the sabot from the projectile body, at the exit from the weapons barrel, a segmentation of the formed securing band and the relatively large jacket segments. The remainder of the light metal sabot rear portion remains unitary and continues to fly, in the direction of the projectile body, for a considerable distance further than the previously noted segmented portions. Due to their mass, these splinters have such high energy levels so that overshooting of the troops is not safe, thus resulting in a relatively large danger zone.